Train free-for-all

The jolt as the train pulled away made Allen realize something. He frowned slightly. "Strange, why hasn't Harry come back yet?"

Draco raised an eyebrow and said carelessly, "He's probably in another carriage. Surely no one's stupid enough to forget to get on!"

"By the way, who's this Harry?"

Allen looked up with a smile, quietly studying his expression. "I thought everyone knew him," he said softly.

Draco looked puzzled, then understanding suddenly dawned on him. He sat bolt upright in shock. "You mean...?"

"The Chosen One, Harry Potter!" Allen said playfully.

A moment later, Draco leaned back in his seat with an air of arrogance, still holding the half-eaten pink macaron. "Oh! What a rare opportunity. I can meet him, then."

He quickly stuffed the macaron into his mouth and tried to straighten his robes without drawing attention.

Allen raised an eyebrow slightly, then lowered his eyes with a faint smile.

"By the way, how do you know him?" Draco asked, pretending to be casual.

"Oh, we met in Diagon Alley, and I invited him to visit the manor," Allen replied just as casually.

Draco blurted out, "Does he really have that lightning-shaped scar on his forehead?"

Allen paused, then nodded. "Yes."

"You'll see him soon anyway," he said, unwrapping some chocolate. "You can check for yourself then, can't you?"

Draco nodded, his eyes shining.

Since the little peacock's mind was elsewhere, Allen said little more until a voice called from outside the door. "Anything from the trolley, dear?"

At that, Draco sprang up eagerly-Allen suspected this was the lingering excitement of getting to meet the Chosen One so soon-and pulled a handful of Galleons from his pocket. "Some of everything!"

He turned and dumped a mountain of snacks onto the table. "Let me show you what wizarding snacks are like!"

Elsewhere, Harry and Ron were struggling to make their way through the train.

Ron looked rather dejected. "Oh, it looks like there aren't any empty compartments! Oh, Merlin, why are they all full?"

Harry hesitated. "If you don't mind, you could come with me to the carriage up front."

Ron blinked. "Up front? Those are the prefects' and school governors' carriages."

Harry scratched his head awkwardly, unsure whether he had offended Ron, only for Ron to exclaim happily, "Cool! That's brilliant!"

"I was worried you wouldn't want to!" Harry said. "A friend of mine's in that carriage too, but he's really nice. He won't mind."

Ron clapped him on the shoulder, his face alight with excitement. "Come on, getting to sit in the front carriage is seriously cool!"

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, then heard Ron ask, "By the way, I still don't know your name?"

"Oh, I'm Harry. Harry Potter!"

Ron's eyes widened.

Back in the compartment, Draco had already begun enthusiastically introducing Allen to wizarding sweets.

He handed Allen a Chocolate Frog and looked at him expectantly.

"Open one. Let's see if I can get one of the cards I'm missing!"

Allen had never played any childhood games and did not understand the fun of collecting cards. Still, he was happy to oblige his new friend and opened the little box along the dotted line.

Immediately, a chocolate-colored frog, fragrant with chocolate, leaped onto his hand without warning.

Allen's hand jerked, and he instinctively flicked the Chocolate Frog away, dropping the entire box onto the table.

Draco caught the Chocolate Frog in midair. It had already stopped moving. He looked at Allen, gloating. "Oh? The Muggle Crown Prince is afraid of Chocolate Frogs?"

He deliberately broke the Chocolate Frog in half right in front of Allen, its legs still twitching. "Chocolate Frogs can be pretty dangerous! Just like real frogs!"

Allen gave him a helpless look. "Draco, I just wasn't prepared!"

Draco could not be bothered to listen. He picked up the card and grinned happily. "Gringott! This one's really hard to get!"

Allen glanced at the card and saw that its portrait space was empty. Beneath it, Gothic lettering read: [Gringott: goblin, founded Gringotts Wizarding Bank in 1474.]

He knew that portraits in the wizarding world could wander off. Glancing at Draco, he smiled. "The people in photographs in the Muggle world don't move!"

Sure enough, the little peacock looked up in surprise. "...What did you do to the photographs?! Why don't they move?"

Holding back a smile, Allen explained how cameras worked, the principles of image formation through convex lenses, and how cameras were assembled, leaving the little peacock thoroughly bewildered.

He could not help laughing then. As Draco started to get angry, he handed him a chocolate ball. "Draco, the Muggle world is fascinating.

"Though Muggles have no magic, we've created things even more miraculous than magic. There are machines powered in remarkable ways, planes that can fly through the sky, and weapons that can rival meteorites..."

Draco's eyes widened before his brow furrowed slightly. "I know about your Muggle helicopters, but weapons that can rival meteorites... That's impossible!"

Allen smiled enticingly. "Then come visit my castle, and I'll show you!"

Draco hesitated, seemingly worried about whether Lucius would agree. After wrestling with it for a moment, his curiosity won out, and he nodded.

The Malfoy heir was pretty easy to fool, too!

Allen wondered how someone like Lucius had managed to raise such an innocent son.

Just then, the compartment door was suddenly pulled open, and Harry's excited voice rang out. "Your Highness!"

Allen looked over helplessly. "What took you so long to get back?"

He paused, noticing the red-haired boy beside Harry.

Harry was rather bewildered too. He had excitedly pulled open the door to Allen's compartment, only to find a platinum-haired boy already sitting inside.

The boy was so pale that Harry was even a little worried about his health.

"Er, who's he?" Harry asked blankly, failing to notice the ugly expression on his new friend Ron's face.

"Oh!"

Allen smoothed his public school suit and stood up. Smiling at Harry, he pulled the haughty little peacock over and introduced him.

"Harry, this is our new friend, Draco Malfoy!"

"Draco, this is the Chosen One you've been longing to meet, Harry Potter!"

Draco had been about to shake Harry's hand with an air of dignity. At those words, he glared at Allen and snapped, "Shut up!"

He cleared his throat again and held out his hand. "Hello, Harry Potter!"

Still bewildered, Harry shook his hand.

Allen looked at the boy beside Harry and asked, "Harry, who's this?"

Harry brightened again and was just about to introduce him when Draco arrogantly interrupted.

"Hmph, there's no need to trouble the Chosen One with introductions." He raised his chin. "Red hair, secondhand robes. Obviously, he's a Weasley."

Anger kindled in Harry's green eyes. He was beginning to regret shaking hands with this arrogant boy.

Allen frowned slightly too. "Oh, Draco!"

Ron's face flushed again. "Malfoy!" he said furiously. "Say one more word, and I'll throw you into a pack of trolls!"

Draco gave a soft snort and turned away haughtily. "What, Allen? Don't tell me you want to associate with someone like him? Is the Muggle Crown Prince really so..."

The rest of his sentence died under Allen's gaze.

More than a decade of cultivated manners kept Allen from doing anything ungracious. Instead, he asked, "Draco, why don't you like the Weasleys?"

Draco scoffed. "Why else? They're pure-bloods, yet they're so friendly with Muggles, and their family's so poor-they're a disgrace to pure-bloods!"

Ron drew his wand and shouted, "Malfoy!"

Draco clearly did not take him seriously. "Does that secondhand wand of yours even work, Weasley?"

As the atmosphere in the compartment grew increasingly tense, Allen sighed softly and caught Draco by the wrist. It worked well enough, at least drawing everyone's attention to him.

"Draco, I think you may have forgotten," Allen said softly. "I'm the Muggle Crown Prince. I'm a Muggle-born through and through!"

"If you look down on the Weasley family for being friendly with Muggles, then why would you want to be friends with me?"